MLR ProjectsMLR Projects

Program For Communal Land Development (PCLD)

The Program for Communal Land Development (PCLD) is operating under the Directorate of Land Reform & Resettlement in the Ministry of Land Reform. The MLR receives financial and technical support through the Namibian-German Co-operation and the European Commission to implement its land reform program focusing on communal areas. KFW concluded a Financing Agreement with GRN in 2006 and established a basket fund“Support to Land Reform and Infrastructure Development in Communal Areas” in support of MLR’s endeavors to develop communal areas. By doing so, MLR is addressing some of the core developmental challenges of Namibia – dealing with the colonial legacy of skewed access to land; tenure insecurity in the areas of the poorer populace; developing a basis and an established process for communities to take ownership of their own development; and reducing the lack of, and the lag in the provision of core infrastructure to better manage and utilise land as a productive resource.

The “Grundbuch” Project

INCORPORATION OF THE GERMAN DEEDS REGISTRY INTO THE COMPUTERISED DEEDS REGISTRATION SYSTEM.

The Directorate of Deeds Registration retains records of all title deeds and examines all transfers of land in Namibia. Currently, the Directorate is in the process of digitising its entire collection through the implementation of the Computerised Deeds Registration System (CDRS). Importantly, this digital archive should take into consideration the information contained in the land registration system developed in the Protectorate of South-West Africa (nowadays Namibia) during the German occupation (from 1884 until 1915). This endeavour is necessary because it has been observed that a noteworthy number of deeds entered in the German Deeds Registry (from now on to be referred to by its German name as “Grundbuch” 1 ) are still valid and have never been transferred into the current Deeds Registry system. The “Grundbuch” is still alive in Namibia! This fact is, however, not new. The existence of this deeds register has been acknowledged in previous research carried out by the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – German Cooperation) and the Ministry of Land Reform (MLR). Therefore, the task of incorporating this old register into the CDRS will help to improve the accuracy of the information provided by the Deeds Registry Office. Alongside this improvement, the process includes the digitalisation of the books and files that together make up the “Grundbuch” register. This will certainly enable their conservation and the preservation of the legal and historical information they contain.